美国国家公共电台 NPR FCC Investigates Widespread CenturyLink Outage That Disrupted 911 Service

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A phone and Internet outage has been disrupting 911 services across the country since yesterday, and today the FCC says it's launched an investigation¹. Montana Public Radio's Eric Whitney reports.

ERIC WHITNEY, BYLINE²: Louisiana-based CenturyLink announced the outage a little after 8 a.m. yesterday, and people calling 911 and other emergency service numbers started getting messages like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We're sorry. Your call did not go through. Will you please try your call again?

WHITNEY: Twenty-four hours later, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted the CenturyLink outage is completely unacceptable and that the agency was launching an investigation. It's unclear exactly how many people were affected³. The website DownDetector said the outage was mostly in Western states, but emergency service providers on both coasts reported disruptions. CenturyLink has offered no details about the nature of the problem beyond saying a network element was impacting customer services. Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, says the outage is a reminder⁴ that people should have backup plans for emergency communications.

BRIAN FONTES: Do I have another provider for wireless⁵ service? Do I know the tentative phone numbers for the police or fire department?

WHITNEY: CenturyLink tweeted that in case of an emergency, customers should use their wireless phones to call 911 or drive to the nearest fire station or emergency facility. That comment drew ridicule⁶ on social media. This afternoon, CenturyLink said that in areas where they're the 911 service provider, 911 calls are now completing but that their network is still experiencing service disruptions.

CenturyLink's disruptions also affected Verizon customers in at least two states and knocked ATMs offline in Montana and Idaho. A hospital in Greeley, Colo., reported losing access to electronic medical records. The last time the FCC investigated a 911 outage was last year. It fined AT&T $5.25 million for two nationwide disruptions that lasted for a total of about six hours. For NPR News, I'm Eric Whitney in Missoula.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

6 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。